Brisbane chamber ensemble Ensemble Q will mark its 10th anniversary in 2027 with a new trans-Tasman commission, an expanded local concert program and performances in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Led by co-artistic directors Paul and Trish Dean, the ensemble’s now on-sale season combines established chamber music repertoire with contemporary works, new commissions and initiatives aimed at emerging musicians and audiences.

Ensemble Q’s Paul Dean and Trish Dean. Photo supplied

The centrepiece of its international program is Across the Ditch, a new chamber work bringing together three Australian and three New Zealand composers to create a single collaborative composition. The project explores the musical connections, history and landscapes shared by the two countries, with performances planned across Australia and New Zealand during an Ensemble Q tour presented by Chamber Music New Zealand.

The commissioned composers are Maria Grenfell, Dame Gillian Whitehead, Ben Hoadley, Matt Laing, Nicole Murphy and Nathaniel Otley.

Ensemble Q’s flagship Sundays by the Lake series returns to the University of Queensland’s GHD Auditorium with four programs titled Rapture, Wonder, Currents and Echoes. The repertoire ranges from Brahms’ Piano Quartet in A major, Schubert’s String Quintet and Ravel’s String Quartet to Prokofiev’s Quintet, alongside contemporary works by Paul Dean, Thomas Adès and Caroline Shaw.

Ensemble Q’s Sundays by the Lake. Photo supplied

The ensemble will also expand its popular Whiskey Bar series to two sittings per evening in response to audience demand. Guest artists Roger Benedict, Helena Rathbone and Joshua Batty will present programs, while Adam Chalabi, Benjamin Roskams and Trish Dean revisit the Sitkovetsky trio arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Two further events take chamber music into Brisbane venues beyond the traditional concert hall. At Salt Bar in Hamilton, Ensemble Q will collaborate with accordionist Nerida Farmer and ABC presenter Ed le Brocq.

At The Loyal Hope in Fortitude Valley, violinist Andrew Haveron and violist Tobias Breider join the ensemble for Schubert’s String Quintet.

Ensemble Q at Sandgate Town Hall. Photo supplied

The ensemble’s Step Inside the Music festival returns to Sandgate Town Hall on 29 May, focusing on Queensland birdlife. The program includes a specially commissioned collaborative work by six emerging composers, alongside new perspectives on Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence.

Beyond Queensland, Ensemble Q will appear in UKARIA Cultural Centre’s 2027 season in South Australia and undertake a residency at Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, delivering masterclasses, coaching and performances. Further national performances in Sydney and Melbourne are to be announced.

Reflecting on the milestone, Trish Dean said the ensemble had grown from a group of musicians united by a love of playing together into a community in which audiences were central to its work.

“Ten years ago, Ensemble Q began with a simple desire: to play extraordinary music with extraordinary people,” says Dean. “What we couldn’t have imagined was how much our audiences would become part of that journey.”

“Over the past decade, we’ve grown from a group of musicians who loved making music together into a community where the audience is every bit as important as the musicians on stage. That sense of belonging,
of sharing something remarkable together, has become the heart of Ensemble Q.”

For more information on Ensemble Q events in 2027 and bookings, visit ensembleqaustralia.com